Franklin, Adrian Victorious at Arena Pro Swim Series at Orlando

| Friday, March 4, 2016

Olympic gold medalists Missy Franklin and Nathan Adrian highlighted night two of the Arena Pro Swim Series at Orlando with victories in the women’s 100-meter backstroke and men’s 50m freestyle, respectively.

Franklin (Centennial, Colo./Colorado Stars) touched in 59.80 seconds to earn the women’s 100m back win ahead of Canada’s Dominique Bouchard in 1:00.70 and Brazil’s Etiene Medeiros in 1:01.43. The performance marked Franklin’s first time under the 1-minute mark in 2016.

“It’s something I’ve been working for so long, getting those four digits up there again,” Franklin said. “I felt it, too, that last 15 meters hurt like a 59, and I haven’t felt that for a while. I knew it was going to happen and having that feeling again and having that pain felt so good.”

In the men’s 50m free, Adrian (Bremerton, Wash./California Aquatics) held off Florida native Caeleb Dressel (Green Cove Springs, Fla./University of Florida) to earn the win in 21.70. Dressel touched second in 22.06. Adrian has won the 50m free at all three Arena Pro Swim Series stops in 2015-16.

In addition, a trio of USA Swimming National Team members picked up their second victories in Orlando. Maya DiRado (Santa Rosa, Calif./Stanford Swimming) won the women’s 200m fly in 2:10.52, while Chase Kalisz (Bel Air, Md./North Baltimore Aquatic Club) took the men’s 200m fly in 1:57.93. Conor Dwyer (Winnetka, Ill./Trojan Swim Club) topped the men’s 400m free field in 3:49.54.

The long-course meters meet continues through Saturday with daily prelims at 9 a.m. Eastern followed by finals at 6 p.m. Click here for complete results from Orlando.

Television coverage from Orlando will air live on Saturday from 6-7:30 p.m. on NBC Sports Network. In addition, NBC Sports Live Extra will stream Saturday finals live. A live webcast of the entire meet also will be available at usaswimming.org.

The Arena Pro Swim Series at Orlando is the third of seven stops 2015-16 Arena Pro Swim Series. As part of USA Swimming’s partnership with swimwear leader Arena, the circuit will feature a record $350,000 in overall prize money. Swimmers may earn awards for top-three finishes in all individual Olympic events across the series. At each meet, $1,000 will be provided for a first-place finish, $600 for second and $200 for third. In addition to the single-event prize money, the overall male and female winners of the season-long Series will earn a $10,000 bonus.

For the third consecutive season, longtime USA Swimming partner BMW will award the grand prize of a one-year lease of a BMW vehicle to the highest-scoring eligible male and female U.S. swimmers.

Male and female overall Arena Pro Swim Series champions will be honored at the conclusion of the 2015-16 series based on the number of points accumulated throughout the seven meets. Participants will be awarded points in each individual Olympic event throughout the duration of the Series (Five points for first, three for second, one point for third place).